Region · Census West North Central division · Midwest
West North Central rental markets
The Upper Midwest and Plains. 7 states and 168 ranked cities, summarized by the median Overall across those cities.
The honest read
West North Central ranks #4 of 9 U.S. regions for rental investing, with a median Overall of 50.2/100 across its ranked cities, above the national median. 7 states make up this division.
A region grade is the median of its ranked cities, a screen for where to look, not underwriting. Open any city below for its full shown-math breakdown, or run a specific deal through the cap rate and cash-flow calculators.
Where it ranks, factor by factor
Every value is the median across the 168 ranked cities in this region. The national rank compares all 9 regions on that one factor; the engine already flips inverted factors (affordability, low unemployment) so a better rank always means a better market. Each factor sits in one of the model’s three categories (Cash Flow, Growth, or Stability); this is a representative summary, and the full thirteen-factor breakdown is on each city’s page. Full methodology.
| Factor | Category | Region value | National rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross rent yield | Cash Flow | 5.9% | not measured |
| Rent growth | Growth | 4.4% | not measured |
| Home value growth | Growth | 4.0% | not measured |
| Population growth | Growth | 0.5% | not measured |
| Job growth | Growth | 0.6% | not measured |
| Price-to-income | Cash Flow | 3.9× | not measured |
| Unemployment | Stability | 2.7% | not measured |
| Rental demand | Stability | 38% renters · 546.8% vacancy | not measured |
| Income growth | Growth | 5.0% | not measured |
States in the West North Central division
Ranked by median Overall across each state's ranked cities. Each links to its full state analysis, and from there to its cities.
| Div rank | State | Overall score | Grade | Gross yield | Home-value growth | Price-to-income | Ranked cities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #8 | Missouri | 56.1 | B | 6.5% | 4.6% | 3.9× | 35 |
| #17 | Nebraska | 51.6 | B | 5.7% | 4.3% | 4.1× | 11 |
| #22 | Minnesota | 50.5 | B | 5.5% | 3.2% | 4.0× | 60 |
| #24 | Kansas | 50.1 | C | 6.0% | 4.8% | 3.9× | 22 |
| #28 | South Dakota | 47 | C | 4.7% | 4.1% | 4.8× | 5 |
| #31 | Iowa | 44.7 | C | 6.3% | 3.5% | 3.4× | 27 |
| #32 | North Dakota | 44.5 | C | 4.3% | 3.4% | 4.6× | 8 |
Data as of: Zillow ZHVI/ZORI through the latest monthly release · Census ACS 5-yr 2019–2023 · Census PEP July 2024 · BLS LAUS county 2023 annual. Generated 2026-09-01. Methodology & limitations · underwrite any specific deal with the free calculators.